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The authorities has denied it’s set to carry talks with Caribbean representatives over reparations for the slave commerce as one Labour MP referred to as for the UK to take steps in direction of acknowledging the injury brought on by its colonialist previous.
The Foreign Office (FCDO) angrily denied studies on Saturday that it was to carry talks with a Caribbean delegation on reparations.
Clapham and Brixton Hill MP Bell Ribeiro-Addy, who chairs the APPG on Afrikan Reparations, stated she had been “surprised” by the preliminary studies in The Telegraph, however added it was “a shame” they don’t seem to be going forward.
She instructed The Independent: “Talks with CARICOM nations would be a significant step towards acknowledging the enduring harm caused by enslavement and colonialism. Critics often miscontrue the campaign for reparations as being solely about financial compensation, or historic events that have no relevance today.
“But for these countries our historic crimes play a central part in their present struggles. So reparations at its core is about equality and justice. There are many ways we can go about righting our wrongs, and that starts with a conversation.”
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Bell Ribeiro-Addy (PA)
It had been reported that overseas secretary David Lammy had give Foreign Office officers the inexperienced mild the FCDO to carry talks with embers of the Reparations Commission of the Caribbean Community (Caricom), a political grouping of 15 states, to debate the UK paying for its previous acts as a colonial energy.
But in an announcement on X, the FCDO claimed the studies have been false.
“The Telegraph front page today is wrong and mendacious. There will be no such delegation of Caribbean leaders or officials in spring. We do not pay reparations.”
It had been speculated that the choice to carry the assembly follows final 12 months gathering of Commonwealth heads of presidency in Samoa the place Caribbean nations pressed the prime minister Keir Starmer into discussing the continued influence of historic slavery and reparations.
At the time, Sir Keir agreed to proceed speaking in regards to the difficulty however had steered he was in opposition to paying reparations.
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David Lammy (Jordan Pettitt/PA) (PA Wire)
Sources have steered that the delegation can be led by Mia Mottley, Barbados’s prime minister.
Ms Ribeiro-Addy’s feedback adopted Tory shadow overseas secretary Priti Patel main assaults in opposition to Mr Lammy on the problem linking it with controversial plans handy over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius.
She stated: “When Labour negotiate, Britain loses. Having agreed to give up billions of kilos of taxpayers cash to Mauritius to giveaway the Chagos Islands, the remainder of the world has seen how straightforward it’s to pressure this weak and pathetic Labour Government to bend to their calls for.
“Now we see that Keir Starmer and David Lammy have once again been caught out failing to defend the national interest. Instead of focusing on strengthening future trade and partnership ties with the Commonwealth, they are letting their Labour friends and activists set the agenda.
“Whether it’s the surrender of Chagos, kowtowing to China, cosying up to the EU or considering reparations, Labour cannot be trusted to defend our interests and protect hard-pressed British taxpayers.”
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